Blues Highway 61 road trip itinerary

Mississippi Blues Trail: the Journey of the Blues from Memphis to New Orleans

This site may contain affiliate links. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.

There are many distinctive features of the Deep South, but one in particular is so important that it has influenced not only American culture but that of the entire world: music. Here, in the Deep South of the USA, in these green plains, rich in plantations and placid country roads, the African-American heritage has given life to admirable artistic expressions, so much so as to give birth to genres that have defined (and even distorted) contemporary popular music: blues, country, jazz and even rock ‘n’ roll were born here!

The first, the one from which, according to many music critics, all the others developed, is the real protagonist of today’s itinerary. In fact, we will be following the legendary Blues Highway, along the stages of the Blues Trail, retracing the birth of the blues on a journey that speaks of sadness, love, loneliness and desire for freedom.

mississippi blues trail map
Mural in Leland

Our itinerary starts in Memphis, the city of Elvis Presley, where blues became rock ‘n’ roll, crosses the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the birthplace of bluesmen, and ends in New Orleans, Louisiana, the jazz capital of the world. The journey takes about 6 days, but can be easily reduced if you are willing to miss out a few stops. Are you ready to get going? Good! But before we start, allow us a short introduction….

Blues Highway and Mississippi Blues Trail

Blues highway road trip
Blues Trail signage

Highway 61, the so-called Blues Highway, is a road designed in 1926 that stretches 1430 miles from New Orleans to the state of Minnesota, more or less following the course of the Mississippi River. It is part of the road system called the Great River Road and in popular culture is surrounded by a sort of mythical aura, a bit like Route 66, either for the many blues legends that revolve around it, or for the many references made to it in pop culture (the most important is the song and album by Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited in 1965). Actually, as happens for many historical roads, the current Route 61 does not coincide with the original one because, over time, it has undergone many changes and variations.

The so-called Old Highway 61, at least for the stretch we are interested in, is now a long series of minor country roads west of the current US 61; driving along it may not be easy, as the original stretch is not usually marked and the roads often have another name, however Google Maps can help as it often shows the road as Old Highway 61. As further support you can use the map provided in this article, where you can find all the GPS coordinates for each point of interest.

highway 61 road trip itinerary
Old Highway 61 intersects with current

Along our journey in search of secondary and little traveled country roads, we will find the most authentic testimonies of the great bluesmen of the past, often true ones, sometimes just presumed. These stops, at the crossroads of history and legend, are part of a route called the Mississippi Blues Trail, which retraces the historical places of the blues, identifying them with clear signposts, which also explain the importance of the place you are visiting. There are about 200 stops on the Trail, so we will not touch them all, also because in some of them there is not much left to see. However, we will try not to miss the most significant ones from both a historical and symbolic point of view.

The Blues Trail Road Trip Map: from Memphis to New Orleans

Memphis

blues highway road trip itinerary
Beale Street

Let’s start with one of the great cities of the South, home of rock’n’roll, a pilgrimage destination for many bluesmen and launching pad for many country music stars. There is more than one place to look for this unique blend of black and white music: first of all, the Sun Studio, where the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins (who together formed the Million Dollar Quartet), Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, James Cotton and many others recorded.

There is also the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, a museum run by the Smithsonian Institute that traces the process of musical transformation that occurred from blues and rural gospel to the birth of soul music (by the way, if you are interested in the genre, there is another museum for you, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, dedicated to the history of Stax, the famous soul music record company founded in Memphis in 1957).

One of the most interesting things you can do in Memphis is to take an evening stroll down Beale Street, where bluesmen play both outside and inside the many venues on this bustling music street. Here you can go to a blues bar (such as B.B. King’s Blues Club or the Rum Boogie Cafe), visit the house museum of the “father of the blues” W.C. Handy, who published the first blues in the traditional 12-beat form, and admire the exhibition of legendary Gibson guitars at the store on George W Lee Avenue, a side street of Beale Street.

Want to learn more about Elvis?
In Memphis and nearby Tupelo you can find the must-see attractions for every true Elvis lover, if you want to know more, read our itinerary At Elvis’ house: tour from Tupelo to Memphis in the footsteps of the King!
Want to find out what else there is to do in the city?
Read our guide on the things to do in Memphis.

Memphis to Clarksdale

If blues was born in the countryside, to then “electrify” itself in the cities, we’re kind of going the other way around. After visiting one of the urban centers that contributed to the spread of electric blues, it’s time to take a step back in time, in search of rural blues and the traces of its birth. We head towards Clarksdale, the town that is the epicenter of this itinerary, where legend has it that the great bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for talent. But first, along the way, some interesting stops await us…

blues highway 61 road trip

We cross the border from Tennessee into the state of Mississippi, where the urban area gives way to the countryside and the landscape becomes predominantly agricultural. We head south, towards Clarksdale and, 30 minutes from Memphis, our first stop is the small village of Walls, where in the cemetery of the New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, the grave of Memphis Minnie awaits us. She was one of the first great women of Blues music celebrated by the sign of the Blues Trail a few steps from the roadside.

Highway 61 blues
Tunica Visitors Center

From here we continue our tour along Old Highway 61, the present-day Blythe Road, which runs parallel to the railroad (and also present-day US 61). After about 15 minutes, turn left onto Harrah’s Parkway and then right onto Dunn Road (which then becomes Kirby Road); you will find yourself in front of a building that resembles a historic juke joint (a typical club in the South where African-Americans met to play and dance), but is actually the Visitors Center of Tunica, which also houses a small museum that is ideal for getting into the vibe. A photo of the building and the sign is practically a must.

Get back on Old Highway 61, stop to read the memorial sign dedicated to bluesman Son House and go straight back on the road. After 5 minutes’ drive you will find The Hollywood Cafe in Robinsonville, a spartan “bad place” with an authentic spirit, where many important musicians have performed, including Muriel Wilkins and Son House, and which proudly boasts of having invented the fried pickle (fried in beer batter with pepper and chili).

After stuffing your face, continue south and get ready for an interesting detour: we head to Arkansas where one of the must-see blues record stores for fans awaits us, Bubba’s Blues Corner in Helena. If, like me, you are nostalgic for those old-fashioned stores where you used your fingers to flick through, looking for a rare record, this is the place for you. From here you can get to Clarksdale in a little over half an hour along the current Highway 61, using the historic one is about 10 minutes longer.

Clarksdale

Here we are in one of the most interesting towns of the whole itinerary, a real boon for those who love the blues because of the high concentration of places of interest in and around the city. As luck would have it, it is also the town with the highest number of accommodations in the area, so this is where it is advisable to spend the night, and here are 2 suitable accommodations to fully experience the atmosphere of our trip:

  • Shack Up Inn one of the most characteristic lodgings I have ever seen, located in an old plantation. You sleep inside the original buildings and often you have the opportunity to listen to extremely talented live bluesmen. Even if you decide not to sleep here I suggest you make a detour.
  • Riverside Hotel a historic hotel that since 1944 has hosted the great musicians of the Delta, including Sunny Boy Williamson II, Ike Turner, Robert Nighthawk, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.

For more “common” hotels take a look at this list of hotels in town.

Once you have found your accommodation it’s time to go around looking for the signs of blues music in this town and the most important is inevitably The Crossroads, where an unmistakable sign with 3 guitars marks the intersection of Highway 61 and 49, where legend has it that Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil (but as we will see later we can not be too sure …).

After the usual picture, my advice is to spend the day at the beautiful museums in the town, the Delta Blues Museum and the Rock n’ Roll & Blues Heritage Museum, not forgetting to visit Cat Head, the best place to find out about concerts in town. The evening can only be dedicated to a live blues concert; with many venues to choose from. 2 suggestions? Ground Zero Blues Club or Red’s.

Surrounding Clarksdale

The blues also radiate out into the surroundings of Clarksdale, so let’s dive back into the rural landscape of the Mississippi Delta because there’s so much more to discover: here’s a circular route from west to east to get out and back into town:

  • Rosedale: here we find 2 stops dedicated again to Robert Johnson; the intersection between Highway 1 and 8 is considered by some as the real place where the grim pact was celebrated (there is very little to see except the intersection itself), while, a little more than 1600 feet further, along the 1, we find another sign of the Blues Trail that recalls a song of the famous bluesman (They’re red hot) that spoke of a woman selling Tamales (a Mexican dish). All that’s left to do is to enter the place opposite (White Front Cafe Joe’s Hot Tamale Place) and taste one!
  • Po’ Monkey’s Lounge: in Bolivar County, just outside Merigold, you can find one of the few authentic juke joints to have survived the 20th century, although unfortunately it too has been closed in recent years. Despite this, the venue continues to be a pilgrimage destination among blues lovers and tourists looking to capture the true spirit of the Mississippi Delta.
  • Dockery Farms: this plantation of 1895 was one of the first centers where blues music became popular (many consider it as the cradle of the genre); for 30 years it was the home of Charley Patton, who learned from Henry Sloan and influenced many other great musicians, including Howlin’ Wolf.
  • Tutwiler: As you head back north to Clarksdale, take the opportunity to make a quick stop in the village of Tutwiler, where, near the station, WC Handy heard a bluesman who gave him the inspiration to write a 12-bar blues on 3 chords in an AAB pattern. This is a fundamental step in the history of the blues, which from oral tradition was transcribed on paper spreading well beyond the borders of the Mississippi countryside. The Tutwiler Tracks, murals near the railroad, are there to remember the event. Nearby you’ll also find Sonny Boy Williamson‘s grave, where fans leave harmonicas, bottles of whiskey and candles as gifts.

From Clarksdale to Vicksburg

It’s time to get going again and continue our search for the blues trail. We’re aiming for Vicksburg, but most of the sights are along the way, so let’s keep our eyes peeled… Robert Johnson again, it’s inevitable that we will return to him. If there is no certainty as to which are the real crossroads where he mysteriously acquired his talent, there is even less so on where he is buried. Three cemeteries compete for the body of the great bluesman and it is worthwhile visiting each one, in this order:

  • Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Money Road, Greenwood, MS 38930
  • Payne Chapel Church, 32830 County Road 167, Itta Bena, MS 38941
  • Mount Zion Church, Sidon, MS 38954

Next stop? Leland, where we have to look for the corner of Highway 61 and 10, where many blues musicians from the surrounding countryside used to perform in order to make some money. The Highway 61 Blues Museum is also an interesting attraction, especially to learn about the local bluesmen.

However, the best museum in the area is definitely the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, which traces the life and influence of one of the greatest exponents of the history of the blues. In town, don’t miss the opportunity to visit the Ebony Club, one of the most important nightclubs in the South, where artists such as Ray Charles, Count Basie, B.B. King (who bought it in 2008), Little Milton and Albert King performed. The club is part of the Chitlin’ Circuit, a network of nightclubs run by African Americans that over the years has given many local bluesmen the opportunity to perform.

Once in Vicksburg it’s time to enjoy a well deserved rest, so here’s a list of all available accommodations in the city.

Still not enough for you?
If you want to have real indigestion of historical places of blues music, in Avalon, Carroll County, about 30 minutes from the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, you will find the tomb of Mississippi John Hurt, while in Bentonia, about 50 minutes from Vicksburg, you come to the Blue Front Café, a true institution among the historical places of the blues.

blues highway stops (photo by NatalieMaynor)

From Vicksburg to New Orleans

After getting refreshments, we go for a quick look at one of the most bizarre and unlikely sites on our itinerary – Margaret’s Grocery and Market. Once upon a time, this country grocery store was run by Reverend Dennis and his wife Margaret, who one day decided to turn it into a real pilgrimage destination for road trip lovers, with decorations and colorful structures bordering on kitsch and historical references to none other than the Byzantine Empire. Today, unfortunately, the site is in ruins and is experiencing a phase of dereliction, however the Mississippi Folk Art Foundation is planning to restore it.

We continue towards New Orleans, the final destination of our journey, but along the way there will be another few stops, such as the Old Country Store near Natchez, an old farmhouse converted into a restaurant, where Mr. D prepares what the people of New Orleans like to eat. D prepares what the locals say is the best fried chicken in the world. The LSU Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge, the open-air museum of Louisiana State University that is actually a reconstruction of a typical rural town in the South, an evocative experience to understand how the communities of the past lived and from which contexts the blues was born.

Continuing south, about 50 minutes from the Museum of Rural Life, you will find Oak Alley Plantation, one of the most famous plantations in the entire South, dating back to 1837, where many African Americans worked as slaves. It is one of the most relevant historical testimonies of the genre, very interesting to visit and an option to consider as an overnight stay as well. But perhaps, being an hour away from the finish line, the most comfortable lodging is to be found in New Orleans. You can find a lot of advice about this in our guide on where to stay in New Orleans.

Haven't had enough yet?
In Ferriday, at 712 Louisiana Avenue, the birthplace of Jerry Lee Lewis awaits you!

New Orleans

blues trail mississippi

So here we are at our destination, New Orleans, the city of jazz, where our itinerary is completed by adding its last musical ingredient. Whether you are a lover of this musical genre or not, the city has a very special charm and undoubtedly deserves a thorough visit. On this website we have already dealt with the city, so please refer to our section dedicated to New Orleans, which you can read by clicking on the button below:

Guide to New Orleans

lorenzo puliti
lorenzo puliti

I am fascinated by the wonders of the world I never tire of going in search of them.

Related posts

things to do in great smoky mountains national park

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: The Most Visited Park in the U.S.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, between Tennessee and North Carolina, is the most visited national park in the United States, with more than 10 million visitors each year. The ...
when is the best time to visit new orleans

The Best Time to Go to New Orleans: A Guide to its Climate

It’s not only jazz that characterizes New Orleans: from a meteorological point of view, the city is famous for its rain. The geographical area in which it is located, on ...
things to do in louisiana

Things to Do in Louisiana: Top 10 of the Attractions in the State

Among the Southern States, Louisiana is certainly the one that can boast some of the best preserved plantations and swamps of all. Given that in the collective imagination, these are ...
things to do in tennessee

What are the Best Things to Do in Tennessee? The Top 10 Attractions in the State

Whiskey, banjo and Rock’n’Roll: welcome to Tennessee, where the history of music merges with that of the United States itself. This is where Jack Daniel’s was born, where Elvis established ...

1 thought on “Mississippi Blues Trail: the Journey of the Blues from Memphis to New Orleans”

  1. I think that you should definitely revisit the town of Cleveland, Mississippi. It home to Dockery Farms, the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi, and is where WC Handy first encountered the Blues. It also has some of the nicest hotels and best restaurants in the Mississippi Delta all situated in a charming downtown.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.